Portable crossover.



J. KBRWIN. PORTABLE caossovm.

APPLICATION FILED FEB. 23, 1911.

Patented Aug. 8, 1911.

f UNITED STATES PATENT oFFicE.

JOHN KERWIN, OF DETROIT,'. MICHIGA NI-ASSIGNOR OF ONE HALF TO ROBERT E.

'BELKNAP, 0F EVAN STON, ILLINOIS.

PORTABLE cRossovER.

Be it known that 1, JOHN KERwIN, a citizen of the United States, residing at Detroit, in the county of Wayne and State of Michigan, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Portable Crossovers, of which the. following is a spec'ifica tion. Y

My invention relates particularly to portable cross-overs for use in repairing street railroad or other similar tracks where there are two or more parallel tracksused to accommodate the traffic in opposite directions.

When'- repairs are to be made along-such a' line of tracks it is customary to treat a comparatively short section of one track at a time and for this purpose the traflic is customarily shunted around the section undergoing repairs, on the parallel track which is used for the time being for traflic in both directions, temporary cross-overs being necessarily installed beyond each end of the portion of track which is out of commission to transfer the trafiic to and from the adjoining .track. It has been necessary heretofore to construct these temporary cross-' overs in situ, the rails, frogs and other necessary parts of the cross-over being conveyed to the'plaoe where it is to be located and there assembled. The disadvantage and inconvenience of this method of constructing cross-overs has long been recognized and it has been proposed to avoid the same by so constructing the cross-overs that they may be in the main carried on a suitable car in an assembled condition. ,With this in View the parts have been made aslight andfew as possible. But even so it has been found impracticable to handle and convey the cross-overs in this manner. so that to .the

best of my knowledge no such devices have I It is the object of my. invention to construct a portable cross-over that may be conveyed from place to place without being knocked .down or disassembled and which-may be readily handled by the means ordinarily at the disposal. of those engaged in such repair work. With this object in view I construct a cross-over of material which may be of the usual weight and strength and which is preferably of the standard form employed where the crossover is set up in situ. It is equipped, however, with suitable means whereby it may be 4 Specification of Letters Patent.

standard type.

Patented Aug. 8, 1911.

' I Application filed lebruary 23, 1911. Serial No. 610,293.

hauled or slid on the rails of.the track to be repaired, s'uitabletraction means such as electric or other motors or horses being employed for the purpose. V

- My invention will be more fully understood from the following detailed description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings to which it refers. But I it is to be understood that itis not limited to the precise form there shown and described nor to the particular'use to which I have referred for other uses and other forms will occur to those skilled in the art to which it relates, which forms and us'es will still be within the scope -ofmy invention aspointed out in the claims annexed to v and formingpart of this specification.

' Referring to the drawings Figure 1 is a plan vlew of my cross-over showing it as in use upon a two-track road the rails whereof are indicated in dotted lines; Fig. 2 repre sents a side elevation thereof; Fig, 3 a fragmentary enlarged side elevation; Fig. 4: a corresponding crosssection on the line 4-4 of Fig. BandFig. '5 a perspective of a detail thereo As heretofore stated, the cross-over in its general features may be and preferably is of Thus there is nothing peculiarto my invention in the parallel rails A with their tapered end portions A", the cross-over rails B, the frogs Q or the switches D. In order' to facilitate the assembling of the device, however. when it is first put into use on the track to be repaired, I employ wedges E engaging slots in the ends of the tie rods F inplace of the screw and nut construction ordinarily employed. This feature,'while it is of-advantage in that it facilitates rapid assembling of the crossover, need not be employed, nor is my invention limited thereto. i

- The parallel rails -A A are arranged to feet J of the-rails and provided with meansv for-laterally engaging theheadsK of the permanent 'rails.,. This'meansin the present instance consists in a flange L depending from the shoe H within the wheel flange cove M of the permanent rail which it is esigned to fit loosely., The upper, surface of -theshoe "is provided with longitudinal iio . relation thereto.

' chains P at either tudinal rails'to which the traction means is marginal'flanges to engage the edges of the foot of the rail to which the shoe is attached and prevent lateral displacement with provided With attaching means shown as end of each pair of longito be attached.

From the foregoing description the oper .at-ion of my device and its advantages will crossover, either one or two as may be found necessary, and it is hauled or slid along the rails to a new location the shoes preventing the rails from getting out of alinement and acting as carriers for the crossover.

It will be obvious that if desired bolts or other readily removable securing means Copies of'this patent may be obtained for five.cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents,

The cross-over is further.

condition and assembled at the the first cross-over is to occur,

could be employed for fastening the crossover-in position on the permanent tracks but in practice I. have found such means unnecessary for the device may and. preferably is.

nal rails and cross-over rails rigidly connected together, means on the rails adapted to engage the permanent rails, thecross-over as a unitary structure being free to slide longitudinally upon the permanent rails.

21 A portable crossover-having theusual longitudinal rails and crossover rails, shoes upon the longitudinal rails adapted to engage and slideupon the rails of a permanent trackway, and tie rods connecting the rails of the crossover formed with shoulders and reduced ends, the provided With'keys.v

' JOHN KERVVIN. Witnesses:

P. A. KERWIN,

.. ROGER J. BARRETT.

Washington, D. G,

ends being slotted and 

